Character driven vs. Story-driven

I was thinking this over a few days ago, and I was wondering in which direction to ultimately take Enelysion in the future: A character-driven plot or a plot-driven storyline?

If you guys haven't noticed by now, I absolutely adore Laine and Patrick. I could honestly base the entire game just around those two, and their struggles and personal conflicts as they journey towards Raguel ( which kicks off at the beginning of Chapter Two ). So, I have my definitive Point A to Point B, but what's going to happen between? Naturally, the story has been planned out as well, but I find that in the light of recent happenings, watching Laine and Pat struggling to come to terms with their feelings for each other is so much more interesting than a MacGuffin ( that blue orb, it still plays a role ),another war between two nations and not one, but two factions after our two protagonists ( The Keres Sect and the Red Branch ( to be covered in Ch.2 ).

OTP forever. But will they have it?

I was listening to Enya's Flora's Secret when drawing the above image.

I love this song. The music suits the game as well.

Or maybe it's just the fact that I love watching my characters suffer so beautifully, only to pull them out of their misery again. I'm not aiming to create a graphic novel, either. At its heart as a game, Enelysion should still remain a traditional J-RPG, with love as it's main theme.

Opinions?

Posts

I care deeply about my characters and most of them do have deep backstories that I'd love to convey, and now that I'm going to implement comic-style cutscenes, it should be easier to convey character emotion. I'm positive I can pull it off. I do love writing their scenes.

It can be pretty difficult to show a lot of emotion through only subtitles and sprites, which is part of why a lot of RPGs tend to end up as war dramas. If you think you can do it, then do it. If you think you want a game about these two characters, then make a game about these two characters. It's extremely hard to make something interesting to the reader if you don't care about it yourself.

Do you even need any other party members? Maybe it's too late, but I say cut out the cruft, cut out the stuff you were planning on doing just because it's typical and expected, and build a foundation from what's important to you instead. There's a pretty good article about this topic that was just submitted to RMN.

I'm glad you guys liked the art. Pretty much my first expression after looking at the finished piece was, "Holy crap, this is cute!" ^^

So character-driven it is. It was always one of my preferred method of telling stories, I just wanted your guys opinions, so thank you. :) And none of the extra characters, such as Cillian, Siglud and Finn, are there just because they are i.o.w 'Tag-along Kids'. They all have a role to play. I'm also thinking of limiting the number of total playable characters, so all of them get an equal amount of screen time. Even though Laine and Patrick are my protagonists, I don't want them to hog the spotlight.

Also yes to character driven stuff! I don't really care for stories that only focus on what's going on in the world; I like it when it's mostly about how individuals react to what's going on! Also, I can definitely say that it is waaaay more fun to write. B) (Also easier to make original! A lot of JRPG plots are full of tropes that you can't really get away from, but a fresh cast of characters can give even the most tired plot new life and make any game super memorable! ;w;)

It seems like you're already floating the idea of using macro/world events as just a backdrop for a character driven-storyline. Given your preference for writing characters before events, it's probably the better choice. It also gives you flexibility in that you don't need big world-threatening events to amp up the story. If the characters are the focal point, smaller-scale scenarios can be much more suitable and interesting to the player.

Just a word of warning, make sure you have a place for the other two (or more) party members. Making the game entirely a two-person show while you drag around a couple of numbnuts for battling; that'll hurt a lot more than help.

I'd definitely say make it character-driven. This is their story! The things they do should drive the story, rather than getting lead by the nose through the plot. I'd find the struggle of these two avoiding danger together a lot more interesting and compelling then "find all the orbs to save the world" or what not.